Gyrobee videos in the Net?

[twistair]

Just curious: are there any Gyrobee videos available from Internet?

Our local guys here asked me about this.

Thanks in advance,

[Ralph]

I have some "historic" Gyrobee footage that I recently converted to digital to make a CD. Let me see if I can take some of those segments and turn them into MPG or MOV files suitable for downloading.

Ralph

[twistair]

Ralph, it would be very pleasant to see some of this footage. The most simpliest (not the best, but...) way if you have WinXP - it has primitive built-in MovieMaker in Standard Progs. It takes just few minutes to make *.wmv files.

We're looking forward to see GBees on video.

Cheers,

[Ralph]

Alex,

I have all the software tools I need, but the real issue is the quality of the video. My neighbor, an EAA member and homebuilder, happened to have his VHS camcorder out at the field on the day of the Gyrobee's first flight and he got both the first and second flights on tape. However, I have not been able to locate the original tape and had to work with a dubbed version that has marginal quality.

I am working hard to clean it up as best I can, but I suppose I should be happy that there is ANY video footage of the first flights. Anyway, I am also editing the length to make it a practical download. Expect it should be done in about a week - maybe less.

Ralph

[Ralph]

OK guys, the first flight video is now posted. Remember, the quality of the source video is poor but it is a piece of ultralight history!

ftp://taggart.glg.msu.edu/gbeeff.wmv

A few cautions are in order:

(1) The file is 15 Mb (almost 7 minutes of video) and you should probably only try for it if you have a high-speed internet connection.

(2) If you are stuck with dial-up, find a local computer geek with a high-speed connection and have him/her burn the file to a CD-ROM.

(3) Once you have the file in your hot little hands, you can play it on the Windows multimedia player.

Future gyro and trike videos will have much higher quality since the source video will be all digital!

If any of you guys have short clips of your own Gyrobee adventures that you would like to see posted, send me:

(1) A CD-ROM with an AVI, MPEG, or WMV file

or

(2) A decent quality tape (VHS, 8mm, or Mini-DV)

Ralph

[gyroman]

That is cool Ralph, love seeing aviation history. I take it from the commentary that Don was the first to take the Gyrobee to the air. I assume since you guys self trained that that was the first time he had ever flown a gyro? Looks like he did a pretty good job. Man, makes me want to get into the air. I need to get a second job to pay for some rotors, an engine, rotorhead, cyclic, the list goes on... I hate being in debt.

[Ralph]

Yes Toby, Don's test flight of the Gyrobee was his gyro solo. I flew it a week or so later when we installed the longer hub bar and that was my solo. The difference was, unlike Don, I knew it would fly. Lest anyone use our experience to advocate self-training, we survived for some very basic reasons:

(1) The Gyrobee is a VERY stable gyro

(2) We had hundreds of hours of experience flying open-frame ultralights

(3) We had spent almost two months learning to spin up blades and then doing who knows how many crow-hops.

(4) Our training regime was very structured and we never moved on until we understood the current phase and had mastered the needed skills.

While our early flights were a buzz, there were absolutely no surprises and within a few weeks we were doing 25 mile cross-country flights in mid-day conditions. Change any one of these factors and the outcome could have been quite different.

Ralph

[Ralph]

Back in August of 1992 I wrote an article for Rotorcraft Magazine entitled "Captain Video Meets the Autogyro". The article described some interesting experiments with a helmet-mounted miniature B&W camera which we flew on the Gyrobee. We didn't have a suitable miniature video recorder so, since I am an Amateur Radio operator, I built a miniature transmitter to transmit the pictures from the gyro to a receiving system on the ground.

Last night, while sorting through old 8mm tapes, I stumbled on one of our "Captain Video" tapes. It has some neat shots of our flying antics around Mason (Michigan). I will be editing a 4-6 minute segment from this tape for the next posted Gyrobee video.

Ralph

[Ralph]

The editing of the old helmet-cam video went quite well and the quality is pretty good! You can find the download link on by video page:

http://taggart.glg.msu.edu/trikes/video.htm

It is an 18 Mb *.wmv file that runs about 6-minutes.

Ralph

[rehler]

That is way too much stick shake!

[skyguynca]

I still have video of my doing some flybys and a landing on my website, www.skyguynca.com, click on the gyrobee section and the video is there

[Brian Jackson]

David, thanks. I remember that chunk eaten out of your prop... I'd been to your site before.

[skyguynca]

my pleasure, yeah the prop thing was terrible.